Hook
by Canadino
Summary: If you looked around the Academy, almost everything had something to do with how they met. Jack/Simon, AU, multi-shot
1. Hallway

**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the story idea and only some of the witty remarks. I own so little; so please don't steal.**

Background music: -

_One – Hallway_

"Mr. Merridew, this is Simon Green. He is a prospective sixth grader and he is interested in choir."

The last ten minutes of any class are torture. While the first few minutes are spent mentally preparing yourself for the long journey ahead and the bulk of the time is spent laboring on tirelessly, once a certain point is reached, once you look to the clock for one more time – all the energy you thought you had disappears and suddenly the class cannot be over fast enough. Jack knows this to be a fact (he thinks it is a facet of school that adults came up with on purpose) and he is (or rather, had been) trying to survive the last ten of econ when the pretty secretary, the subject of most of the boys in the class's romantic daydreams, calls him outside to the hallway. "Merridew, please," she says pleasantly, in the voice that lulls most boys into a false sense of security. But she is the guardian to the gates of the headmaster and Jack finds himself wracking his brains for any misdeeds he might have committed. Roger, his best friend, gives him a grin as if he knows what's going to happen.

However, in the hallway is not Headmaster Williams, but a small boy; demurely built with dark bangs that obscure equally dark, wary eyes. He is not wearing a uniform of the middle school, but a classy, tiny blazer of one who is visiting the Academy. Jack looks at him and meets eyes before the boy looks down at the ground. The secretary considers this a good beginning. And so, the introduction.

"Hi," Jack says, feeling a bit out of place as the secretary looks expectantly at him as Simon Green stares resolutely at the ground. "So you like to sing? Which section?"

When Simon does not answer, the secretary takes liberties to speak for him. "Right now, he's a soprano. Aren't you?" The boy doesn't move at first, but eventually nods – a slight movement of his head. "He's terribly shy," she confides quietly to Jack. "I was hoping that introducing him to a student would make him feel better than talking with me and his mother."

Then why didn't she show him a sixth grader? Jack wants to ask, but thinks better of it. He knows it is because he is head choir boy so it would only make sense to show someone interested in choir the leader of the choir. "Well, choir's an interesting little bugger," Jack says as the secretary nods on in agreement. "You meet all sorts of people you wouldn't normally meet. It doesn't interfere too much with your time. Practices are only twice a week." He waits for some sign of acknowledgement from Simon but doesn't get any. The secretary seems to sense this forced termination of the meeting.

"Well, we've got lots of things to see at the Academy!" she chirps, clapping her hands together. "So I'll let Mr. Merridew get back to class now."

"It was nice meeting you," Jack says, because society dictates he should say so. Simon looks up and Jack sees a challenging look shot at him. _Is it really_? And he thinks that this Simon boy isn't as cut and dry as he appears. "This school doesn't give me enough to praise it shamelessly, but it's alright," he adds as the secretary gapes on. "I really do think you'd be okay at this place. I'd like to get to know you more, if you come." He doesn't know what makes him include this last part, but all he does know is that he has all of Simon's undivided attention. The boy is looking up at him as if it's the first time he's laid eyes on the redhead. Then he follows the pretty secretary and continues down the hallway as Jack returns to the econ class, which is thankfully over.

The next year rolls around and he has forgotten the whole meeting. The secretary greets him personally when he walks into the school a high school junior and explains that a new student has requested his guidance and further goes on to say that said student has a medical disorder that Jack has already toned out of his head (she is such a chatterbox, it suddenly dawns on him; why do boys like her?). He follows her into the office and stops in the hallway when he sees that familiar middle school uniform he itched through for four years. The body wearing it is smaller than he was and it turns as the secretary announces his arrival.

Simon's eyes do not actually reach his; it more focuses on his chest where his maroon tie rests, but the boy smiles slightly anyway.

[=]

Note: This was going to be a one-shot but I wasn't feeling it. So this will be a multi-shot revolving around these two and the first few months in my AU before Simon started talking. I'm thinking of around ten. To clarify, at the Academy, K – 4th grade is lower school, 5 – 8 is middle school, and then that's high school from there. The title Hook is from the fact that the first few bars of a song is a hook, and this is the first 'few bars' of this AU. I'm thinking of finally indulging my plothare I've been playing with of introducing Ralph. Ralph won't actually show up in these chapters, though, since in my order, he shows up after Simon talks. Lastly, loverly deenet on DA is comic-ing Consensual! If you'd like to feast your eyes on what he/she has so far, I've got a link on my page. Thanks for reading!


	2. Choir Room

**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the story idea and only some of the witty remarks. I own so little; so please don't steal.**

Background music: -

_Two – Choir Room_

There are often times Jack wishes that he put his smarts to good use and escape the choir when the opportunity presents itself. There have been many chances and he lets them all pass. God knows he likes to sing (he can sing C-sharp, seriously!), God knows he can lead (and he likes it too), but God knows he also hates how he is easily pushed around by the rest of the choir. Someday, he resolves, he will tell them what to do and they will do it. At least they don't have a leader yet, he consoles himself. If they had someone to look up to to defy him, it will be a disaster. Roger might be that figure, but his friend has not fully betrayed him yet.

"I've got to skip out of here," Roger had said after practice, as all the boys quickly rushed out of the room to avoid being assigned the awful task of collecting song booklets. While the Academy is supported by funds from generous alumnae, history has taught Ms. Malloy, assigned as supervisor of the choir, that one cannot trust adolescent and young boys with song sheets they need for future practices. Therefore, each time, the booklets of songs must be collected and put in a pile. She does not do it; she leaves faster than the boys themselves at the end of the day. Roger was caught up telling a joke to the twins, Sameneric, and as he collected his belongings, the twins split and left him at the mercy of Jack, who had opened his mouth to order him. "Seriously. You know my mum. She wants me home today since last time I went to get a soda with you after choir, I didn't go back until twelve."

"Roger…" Jack says, trying to sound authoritative, but Roger keeps up the plea and he finds himself excusing the dark boy. He swears he hears Roger chuckle at his expense on his way out and he scowls. Someday. That leaves him to collect the books themselves but he has to meet with a teacher. He would have met with him directly after school, but if he is not on time for practice, the rest of the choir takes the lateness as an exempt and they would not wait for him. He wonders why the choir still exists when the members look more forward to cancelled practices. He will be home late today. In a hurry, he sees if he can still catch Mr. Thomson.

Old Thomson talks his ear off again and it is already nearing five o' clock when he rushes back to the choir room. To his surprise, the booklets are not strewn all over the ground like he had left them; instead, the last of the books are being meticulously stacked in their box by Simon, who has an armful of song sheets. He rushes over to the boy and takes the books from him. "You don't have to do that," he says, although he is secretly relieved. "It was supposed to be Roger today. Well, technically me since I let him go."

Simon stares at the shiny, buffed floor of the choir room. "I was last," he says quietly, and leaves Jack to figure out what he means. Jack frowns as he hastily stuffs the books into the box and returns it to the closet.

"You sit near the door," Jack says. "You could have easily left when choir was over. You didn't have to stay." He pauses, trying to use Simon's train of thought, which is stranger to him than particle theory. He could easily figure out Roger's thought pattern, or even the twins if he thinks hard enough, but he can't really fathom how Simon thinks. "You know," he says as he locks the song closet, "just because I'm supposed to help you around the school and make sure you're okay, it doesn't mean you have to do things for me."

Simon looks at the piano. "Thank you," he says, but it sounds hallow, insincere. Jack looks over at him and he is slightly startled at how intensely Simon is staring at him. The eyes retain their youthful charm, full of feeling and dark like a doe's, but there's a forcefulness that is refined, subdued. _Just say thank you_, they say. _Shut your gob already_. And just like that, the fleeting emotion is gone, replaced by their usual docile, puppy-like demeanor. Jack blinks, wondering why he spent such a time thinking about Simon's eyes.

"Thank you," he says, as the words spill out of his mouth as if Simon had forced them out. The boy stands there and acts as if he hasn't heard. Jack gets his things and tries to wrap his mind around what happened as Simon walks out with him.

[=]

Note: It makes me so happy that people read this and I convert people to Jack/Simon! I mean, I had nearly abandoned this fandom months ago since it seemed so empty! So I thank you all for reading. I hope you like this snippet of mean Simon. The world needs more mean Simon.


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